because in 1967, the issue was civil rights. the senator from maine knows about that early days of the senate. the senator from michigan does as well. there were a minority of republicans at that time. everett dirksen was the republican leader. but the civil rights bill of 1968 was written in the republican leader's office. why? because they had to get at that time 67 votes to pass it. well, you might say, well, that shows what's wrong with the senate because it slowed things down. but looking back over history, those last eight or ten years of civil rights laws, the voting rights act eventually, all the laws that changed our country and continue to change it, they were big steps. and what happened in 1968 once the senate gained a consensus on civil rights? senator russell, who led the opposition to the civil rights bill through his whole career, got on the airplane, went them to georgia, said it's now the law of the land, now we obey it. so the value of having a body in our government that respects the minority and forces a con